In Brief: Memoir

An illustrated chronicle of mourning from David Foster Wallace's widow.

By

Martin Riker

May 24, 2013 12:35 p.m. ET

Part memoir, part artist's book, "Bough Down" is Karen Green's chronicle of the suicide of her husband, David Foster Wallace, and of her own mourning. It is a delicate vellum-covered object, in which narrative scenes are interspersed with abstract collages (most of them not much larger than a postage stamp and some made out of actual stamps). Ms. Green turns out to be a profoundly good writer: "Bough Down" is lovely, smart and funny, in addition to being brutally clear and sad.